I have always smoked in my home. My wife has never objected and has even purchased cigars for me on special occasions.

Two years ago, after smoking cigarettes for her entire adult life, she quit--cold turkey. When I asked if she would like for me to stop smoking in the house, she adamantly refused and said that she actually liked the fact that I continued to smoke because it gave me pleasure.

Last week, after reading through your latest issue, I laid it down and left the room. When I returned, she was leafing through the magazine and then proceeded to read it from cover to cover. While she will never become a cigar smoker, she has told me that she likes your magazine so much, she intends to read every issue.

Keep up the good work!

Paul Pepe
Syosset, New York

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Dear Marvin,

There are several things I would like to say in this letter. First, I am 20 years old and a senior at Illinois State University and I have been smoking cigars since age 13. I must say, the journey from sneaking my great-grandfather's White Owl Miniatures to openly enjoying Arturo Fuente Hemingway Classics has been nothing but pleasurable and it keeps getting better.

Since many of your readers are relatively young, I believe it would be of interest to us if you would print an article that focuses on younger cigar smokers. In any case, I would at least like to know how many of your readers fall into this age category.

Your Summer 1994 article, "The Privileges of Membership" inspired me to begin the project of forming a cigar club at Illinois State University. I immediately called Charlie Barley, the founder of the Florida State University cigar society, and asked for guidelines in creating a club. I am currently gathering members for the club.

Your magazine is by far the best thing that could have happened to cigar smokers everywhere. Keep up the incredible quality.

Please print my name and address so that I may hear from all who wish to offer me information and/or advice in my project or anything else.

Thomas Hendricks
413 Carter Street
Stanford, Illinois 61774

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Dear Marvin,

I am delighted that the Autumn issue of Cigar Aficionado includes my opinion-page article. However, I am concerned with a couple of the editorial changes.

The first occurs in the last sentence of paragraph five. It states, "However, this procedure revealed only a 1.19 to 1 percent increase in lung cancer...which is not considered significant. Although very small, this increase is statistically significant at the 5 percent level using a one-tailed test."

The second occurs within the parentheses of paragraph six. It reads, "Most scientific studies demand a minimum three to one ratio of risk to prove a causal relationship..." In fact, a two to one ratio is generally sufficient.

These are obviously technical issues. The general conclusion that the evidence reveals little reason for concern over secondhand smoke still stands. Nevertheless, I feel I should make these points clear.